Herald of Yesteryear: August 24, 1944

Saturday

Aug 23, 2014 at 9:45 AM

CIGARETTE

CIGARETTE

SHORTAGE WILL BE GREATER WITHIN NEXT 60 DAYS,

MAKERS REPORT

The production of cigarettes on the dealers’ shelves would become still shorter within the next 60 days today came from the nation’s two leading cigarette manufacturing cities, Durham and Winston-Salem, N.C.

Chief among the reasons given for the reasons given for the predicted shortage of smokes is the shortage of labor and leaf tobacco with which to manufacture them.

In Winston-Salem, E. A. Darr, head of the sales department of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, said that "In the first place, the shortage can be attributed to the great demand of the armed forces both here and overseas which are being taken care of 100 per cent. The quantity involved represents a big percentage of the total output, but these demands come first."

Figures generally accepted in the tobacco industry show that approximately 289,000,000,000 cigarettes were produced in 1943, an increase of 14.3 per cent over 1942 production. Of last year’s output it is further estimated that 258,000,000,000 went for domestic consumption and 31,500,000,000 went overseas.

Darr said that the shortage of the leaf tobacco was a result of the Department of Agriculture’s restrictions on tobacco acreage. He pointed out that "manufacturers are allowed to replace only a certain percentage of the total pounds of leaf that they used during the fiscal year ending June 30. This percentage has been raised slightly due to the good crop prospects for the present year."

He said a further contributing factor to the shortage was that a large amount of raw leaf is being sent to "our allies — particularly to England."